Nova Pioneer School Kenya Career Opportunities

Nova Pioneer School University Guidance & Counseling Manager Kenya Career Opportunities

University Guidance & Counseling Manager

Nova Pioneer is looking for a superstar University Guidance & Counseling Manager to build from scratch relationships for ensuring great post-graduation outcomes for all Nova Pioneer students. We aim to make an investment in that sets a new bar for what schools across Africa need to be doing to set students up for success in the 21st century—in university and beyond.
This is an opportunity to be the architect of a University guidance and counseling programme that will be a lasting exemplar that raises expectations and helps students pursue their boldest aspirations. Prior experience in University guidance & counseling whilst a plus, is not a must.

About nova pioneer
Imagine a world in which every young person across Africa attends a school that truly sets them up for success in the 21st century. A school that cares about individual students and allows them to explore the world around them. A school that focuses more on developing skills than on memorizing content. At Nova Pioneer, we have done more than just imagine this future—we are bringing it to life.

Nova Pioneer is a pan-African, independent network of schools offering high quality, accessible education from pre-primary through secondary school. Nova Pioneer uses a unique, enquiry-based learning approach that encourages students to ask “why” instead of telling them the “what”. It allows them to form their own thinking through exploration, investigation and collaboration. Nova Pioneer currently has 6 schools in South Africa and Kenya with a vision to launch 100 schools and reach tens of thousands of students across the African continent in the next decade.

Our distinctive team culture reinforces our ambitious vision:
•We model the growth mindset we want our students to embody: you will stretch yourself outside your comfort zone, get constant feedback, and grow more quickly than ever before
•We pursue excellence in every detail and do whatever it takes to produce great work quickly
•We model servant leadership—putting our students before our team, and our team before ourselves
•We bring joy to everything we do because it fuels the hardest work and learning
To learn more visit www.novapioneer.com

About the role
As University Guidance & Counseling Manager you will work closely with the Director of Partnerships to rapidly begin designing and implementing our university guidance and counselling programme for university readiness, counseling, application support and placement.

Our overriding goal will be to deliver great university admission outcomes for our first alumni cohort who will graduate from Nova Pioneer schools in Kenya and South Africa in late 2019. Working backward from that goal, you will build a roadmap for key relationships that need to fostered with university admissions officers and representative across the world and work with internal stakeholders to prepare the students to submit strong applications.

Together with colleagues you will engage directly with students and families to understand and shape expectations and aspirations, help them take early action to get a step ahead with readiness, and make them feel supported. Prior experience in University guidance & counseling whilst a plus, is not a must.

The role will be based in Nairobi, Kenya.
Specific responsibilities will include, but are not limited to:

General
•Develop and execute an effective outreach strategy that will connect Nova Pioneer with the landscape of identified domestic and international universities for lasting relationships that will result in admission of Nova Pioneer students across geographies to these universities
•Develop an outreach and relationship building that will facilitate building relationships with organizations providing support to African students applying to international universities
•Ensure that the highest standards of identified best practices for university counseling, admissions support, and alumni support are communicated, implemented and adhered to by the different programme stakeholders at Nova Pioneer
Pre-Application
•Collaborate with learning team to ensure that the students successfully transition to university based on identified students’ career interests and potential courses of university study
•Implement all the initiatives designed to engage parents in the college search and financial aid processes, and bolster their ‘college knowledge’ in a timely fashion
•Run programmes within and without the academic year that support students in building portfolios (internship, community service, projects etc) that prepare them for the transition including college preparation entrance tests , essay writing and financial aid application verified/supervised by you
•Develop comprehensive training programmes for teachers and key programme implementation partners
•Develop playbooks to ensure that key processes are documented and updated throughout
Application and Beyond
•Using developed systems ensure that students are preparing strong University applications and that teachers and other stakeholder are working within the specified timelines to deliver the targeted number of students to Universities
•Support students to identify and enroll for full-ride scholarships leveraging partner relationships and existing knowledge
•Implement student transition using the student transition support protocol to ensure that selected students transition smoothly from the Nova Pioneer environment into their new universities
•Develop the building blocks and strategy of alumni engagement that will ensure continued collaboration and support of alumni through university

Other
•Work with the Admissions team to streamline the Scholarship selection and application process for prospective Nova Pioneer students across Geographies

About you
•You are passionate about supporting students through their different post high-school pathways
•You have at least 3-5 years of work experience including significant independent project management experience
•Your past supervisors have consistently perceived you as a strong performer and have given you positive feedback on your analytical and communication skill set
•Experience working in college/university counseling or admissions preferred but not required
•You love building things, you sweat the small stuff, and you take pleasure in excellence more than credit or status
Our culture resonates deeply with your values—and in particular, you are excited to challenge yourself by embracing mutual vulnerability and a firehose of feedback

How to apply
To apply, please complete the form on the right hand side of this page. We cannot process applications that are emailed to us.
Please note: Where a copy of your resume is required, copying and pasting from a formatted document e.g. Microsoft Word may not result in the formatting transferring correctly to the final resume. You are encouraged to attach your resume in Microsoft Word® or PDF format to protect formatting.
Applications will be reviewed on an ongoing basis until the right candidate is identified. Only qualified candidates will be invited for interviews